2012 January 31

Russ Canzler predictably drew interest from other teams after the Rays designated him for assignment last week and Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reports that Tampa Bay has traded the Triple-A MVP to Cleveland for cash considerations. For a brief moment early in the offseason Canzler sat atop the Rays’ first base depth chart, but then…

Not sure how I missed this yesterday, but via my NBC comrade Rick Chandler over at Off the Bench, we learn that there are baseball cards way better than the Photoshopped Jose Reyes and Albert Pujols cards. Specifically, Skip Shumaker’s: That, of course, is from last season’s NLDS, when the varmint messed with Roy Oswalt…

Manny Delcarmen didn’t pitch in the majors last year, spending the entire season at Triple-A, and now the 29-year-old reliever will try to make it back to the big leagues with the Yankees. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that Delcarmen has agreed to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training,…

The Michael Pineda-for-Jesus Montero trade was pretty cool in that we don’t see tons of young-pitcher-for-young-slugger trades that don’t involve payroll things, impending free agency or any of that. But it could have been way cooler. Well, at least if you’re a Mariners fan. As Jeff Blair of the Globe and Mail reports, the Blue…

As a wise man once said, “no one ever wins a fight.” But whether you believe that or not, this is a good way to not to impress your employer: Tony Sanchez, the Pirates’ top catcher prospect, again got into hot water with the team when he sustained a broken jaw in a bar brawl earlier…

Last week Jose Bautista noted at a banquet that he has been given a ton more drug tests since he became a super duper power hitter. He said yesterday, however, that he doesn’t want to be taken as complaining about it. Quite the contrary: “It has increased in the last two years compared to before…

There are two areas in baseball — I think just two, but I’m sure someone will remind me if I’m missing any — in which I will freely own up to being an impossible annoying self-righteous prig: beanball wars, as we discussed yesterday, and booing ballplayers. My thing about beanball wars is pretty defensible I…

The Miami Marlins have figured out a way to erase the embarrassment of poor attendance figures: Make fewer tickets available. Brilliant! The Marlins have announced a sellout for their first game at their new ballpark, a contest against the University of Miami on March 6, reports the Miami Herald. Of course calling it a sellout…